Reno Stead Airport
September 12, 2005
Air Race Photo Report
By: Wayne SagarParker
Raises The Bar!
![click digital photograph to enlarge](05.jpg)
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on any image to enlarge
New Record
Qualifying Speed in Sport Division
Setting the bar considerably
higher than his record setting first
place 349.507MPH qualifying run in 2004,
John Parker of American Air Racing has
again rewritten the record book with a
blistering 361.921MPH run. What is truly
amazing about Parker's showing is that
this is considerably faster than several
Unlimited Division early qualifying
results!
At the time of this report,
neither of the NXT airplanes or Darryl
Greenamyer have made their qualifying
runs. Parker's surprisingly fast speed
certainly makes the rest of the week even
more intriguing than it was before!
In other qualifying news:
John Penney "took the clock"
and turned in what he said was a
disappointing 470.765MPH run. Shaking his
head as he walked by us after the flight
John's only comment was "we've added
some new technology and we're working on
understanding it". Hanging round
afterwards with my ear to the tracks, I
was able to learn that for some reason,
they are not getting the boost that they
should out of the Bear's R-3350... It
might well be that the reshaped wing
inlets are the culprit.. Stay tuned for
more on this one.
Tiger Destefani's Strega sat
the day out with her crew working hard to
repair the radiator. The team finds
themselves in the ironic position of
having three good engines and one
radiator.. and now it decides to act up!
As of late Monday afternoon, an early
Tuesday AM flight was expected.
September Fury,
unfortunately, is going to be a no show
for 2005. After much work by the crew
dealing with bad cylinders and other
mechanical gremlins, they have had to
make the decision to stand down for the
year and concentrate on their two healthy
airplanes, September Pops and Bossman.
This will come as a great disappointment
to the Round Engine and Sea Fury fans but
there's still plenty of action on hand at
the Reno National Championship Air Races!
In the Biplane Division, the
much awaited battle between Phantom and
Jeff Lo's new "Miss Gianna"
hybrid Pitts officially began with Andrew
Buehler turning in a 232.71MPH effort,
somewhat slower than Tom Aberle's
241.05MPH from last year's qualifying
run. Aberle won the division last year at
237.932MPH. Both Phantom and Miss Gianna
will run very trick props for 2005... Lo
has yet to see what his can do having
only gotten it on Monday morning.
Qualifying continues Tuesday
and we're missing it sitting here tapping
these keys so we'll leave you with some
photos and be on our way out to the Reno
Stead Airport, home of the world's
fastest motorsport!
Unless otherwise noted
Story and photos by Wayne Sagar
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